Can Bath Beat A Weakened Tigers Team? Probably Not

Bath Action
By Glen Leat
October 4 2002

They may be two teams not at the top of their form but a Leicester v Bath match is still a great crowd puller and Bath fans have been told not to travel without a ticket because they will not get in. Few teams relish going to Welford Road and generally don't get much change from a Tiger bashing.

The last time Bath beat Leicester was on 3rd April 1999 and have only won four times in the last fifteen attempts. However it has recently been reported that the Tigers are struggling with injuries and are not the odds on favourites they would have been in the past. This season has so far seen both teams in the same half of the table - the bottom half, with Leicester having lost three matches already - one fewer than they managed all last season and one more than Bath - amazing!

Mike Foley has made two changes to the side that drew with Glaws last weekend. Kevin Maggs comes back into the side having returned from Ireland duty meaning that Alex Crockett is included on the bench. David Barnes returns in the front row. Steve Borthwick, Matt Perry, Iain Balshaw, Andy Williams, Gareth Delve and Mike Catt are not considered due to injury.

However much I want to predict a Bath win it is highly unlikely and so I will plump for a Tigers win by 15 points.

Let's look at the Bath team selected by Mike Foley:

15 Olly Barkley

14 Simon Danielli

13 Kevin Maggs

12 Mike Tindall

11. Tom Voyce

10. Chris Malone

9. Gareth Cooper

1. David Barnes

2. Jonathan Humphreys

3. Alessio Galasso

4. Andy Beattie

5. Danny Grewcock

6. Gavin Thomas

7. Dan Lyle

8. Nathan Thomas

16. Ross Blake

17. Lee Mears

18. Alex Crockett

19. Rob Thirlby

20. Andy Lloyd

21. James Scaysbrook

22. John Mallett

Click here to remind yourself about the last match against the Leicester Tigers.

Click on to the Leicester site for their perspective on things.

In preparation for this clash of the titans let's have a look at a few recent statistics:

Biggest Win

Player Greats

Last Meetings (Bath scores first)